Fort Carroll Light

Patapsco River, outside Baltimore, MD, cir. 1854
Somewhat similar in appearance to Fort Sumter in South Carolina, Fort Carroll sits a top a man-made island in the middle of the Patapsco River and protects the approach to Baltimore. Construction on the hexagonal fort began in 1847 and Robert E. Lee oversaw a phase of the construction before becoming superintendent of West Point. By the time of the Civil War it was only partially completed and minimally gunned. The original plans called for four tiers supporting 225 guns. However, by the latter 1800s fortifications of this type were obsolete and only one story was completed. The small lighthouse, with a sixth order Fresnel lens, was added to the fort in 1854 and moved several times during the fort's construction. It was later rebuilt in 1898. The fort was abandoned after World War I. It was used again briefly during World War II (this time by the Coast Guard). After the war both the lighthouse and the fort were abandoned for the final time. It is now quite overgrown and the lighthouse is in a great state of decay.